Toyota Prius-based campers would be incredible. Fuel efficient, great packaging, easy to park. Is this the start of a trend of car-based campers?

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Car-based campers have been around for years, but they've always been a little… boring. They look like cars that have been made into campers—not the other way around. But this new Prius camper is so different! It's not just a car that sleeps in; it's actually built to be a camper from the ground up, with all of the features you'd expect from a traditional camper van but in a way that makes sense for a city dweller like me who doesn't have an extra room for an RV in their apartment/house.

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It has all of your standard features: fully functional kitchenette, full bathroom, cozy sleeping quarters with plenty of storage space for clothes and camping gear (and even an AC unit!). And it's still fuel efficient enough that I can get from New York City to Maine and back again without stopping at a gas station once—and still save money on my vacation!

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We're all about efficiency, and the Toyota Prius is about as efficient as it gets for a car.

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It's a little insane that this hasn't happened yet. At least in mass-marketed ways. But it has in Japan.

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Now admittedly, this conversion costs the equivalent of $35,000 on top of the Prius purchase price for the conversion. But imagine if Toyota made a cargo-style version without a hatch, no interior behind the front seats and accessory cables that reach the back. They would literally have the hybrid, small car-based camper market to themselves.

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You know what they say, you have to create a market to truly dominate it.

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I mean, it's obvious. Car-based campers are going to be huge. But they're not just a fad—they're the future. We're talking about an entire generation of people who are going to be in the market for a camper, and they don't want the hassle of having to deal with things like "parking" and "fuel economy" and "reliability." They just want something that works, and works well. And what could work better than a car?

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Bolt-on kits for popular models like the RAV4, Camry and Civic would already have a potential market of hundreds of thousands of cars in the US alone. The ones who like camping narrow that list, but it's not like this is a niche pass time. And the ability to go camping with your existing sedan without needing a tow bar, enormous camper parking space or gas-guzzling diesel truck is a mighty tasty proposition. Make it a couple grand, and you could have quite a hit on your hands. Especially for people who are scared to drive a house-sized rental camper that tries to tip over at the slightest gust on a highway.

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Let's face it - electric trucks have a hell of a long way to go before they can tow a camper anywhere farther than 150 miles away. Your camping road trip suddenly becomes a two week effort just to get to the site. And with diesel prices being in line with premium these days, sitting around a fire in a neighbouring state is no longer the low cost option it once was.

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Think about it: you already have everything you need right there under your hood! You've got your battery system and your cooling system—and even if those aren't as efficient as they could be, we can all agree that they're better than nothing. What else do you need? Just add a bed up top, some windows so you can see outside, and maybe some extra storage space under the bed so you can carry your stuff around wherever you go. That's really all there is to it!

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Lower cost versions wouldn't even have to be as comprehensive as this glory Prius. They could include a mattress pad to go over the folded seats (for an SUV), and simply have a bed on top of the roof for a sedan. And it OEM carmakers were involved, they could be built in a model-specific way that wouldn't wreck the paint or damage the bumper. Granted, it would have to span over the roof to avoid killing the rear suspension, but this shouldn't be a technical challenge that an automaker couldn't solve for a few million dollars in engineering time.

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This is great news for anyone who wants to go camping but doesn't love the idea of driving around in a mini-van with all the other people who love going camping—because let's face it: most campers don't really fit into your life unless you live somewhere where everyone drives minivans!

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You know what comes next: the fun part! You get to pick out the color scheme for your car-based camper—maybe even customize it with some decals or stickers from a retro back catalogue. Prius camper with OG 4Runner orange, red and black tape stripes?

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Hell. Yes.

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